Today’s Totally Random Line(s)          

                                               

No, nor mine now. – [to Polonius] My lord, you play’d once i’ th’ university, you say? 

 

-Hamlet

Hamlet                           Act III, Scene ii, Line 104

 

Okay, well this is Hamlet, the person and the play. So if it’s confusing, well, that’s because it’s Hamlet, the person and the play.
A bit earlier in this scene Hamlet’s talking alone with Horatio, the only person he trusts, and his sentences make sense. Nearly everything he says to anyone other than Horatio has riddles, or double entendre, or who knows what. Here’s the brief interchange with the king.

King
    How fares our cousin Hamlet?

Hamlet
    Excellent i’faith; of the chameleon’s dish: I eat the air, promise-          cramm’d: You cannot feed capons so.

King

     I have nothing with this answer, Hamlet; these words are not               mine.

Hamlet

     No, nor mine now….

So, this is not an Early Modern English understandability problem; this is simply Hamlet speaking in riddles. Is it worth trying to figure out? Well, you can bet there’s something to be had in those words, because Will wrote them. How much time have you got? How much time have I got? I’m not retired yet, so I do have places to be eventually. To be honest, available time or not, I’m don’t think I’ve got the inclination right now to try to figure this out. So I’ll leave it to you. Good luck!

I asked Sam if he wanted to spend a little more time on Hamlet's words. This is the response I got. I'll take that to be a 'no thank you'. 

 

 Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

                                                and in the morn

I’ll bring you to your ship, and so to Naples,

Where I hope to see the nuptials

Of these, our dear-beloved solemnized;

And thence retire me to Milan, where

Every third thought shall be my grave.

 

-Prospero

The Tempest           Act V, Scene i, Line 310

 

This is very nearly the end of the play. Prospero is speaking to the king and everyone else. There are only a few lines left with Prospero setting Ariel free, and that’s about it; except of course for the epilogue.

Now, I’ve always thought that last line above to be a little odd. Where every third thought shall be my grave. Will I be thinking about death all the time when I’m retired? I kind of hope not. I mean, I think about it now, at least occasionally. But might it really progress to the point where every third thought is about my grave? Seems a bit depressing, doesn’t it? I have to say, I really prefer my ending to the retelling of this story in The Rarer Action much better than the original. And I’m hoping that my ending is what will describe me best. 

 And thinking 'bout grandkids, yes that's what I'll do,

        Old age I’ll embrace, and some warm slippers too.

That's right; warm slippers, and perhaps a good friend like Sammy here. That's what I hope to be embracing.

 Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

                                        Which of them both

Is dearest to me, I have no skill in sense

To make distinction.

 

-Countess

All’s Well That Ends Well             Act III, Scene iv, Line 39

 

I really have no idea what the context is here, but I am immediately brought to think of asking Jon which of his twin sons is his favourite. The reason I am brought to think this is because one of those guys is waking up in the next room right now and crying for attention. I’m pretty sure it’s Otto, so that if I asked Jon (who’s still in bed) that question right now, he might say Auggie. Well, probably the first thing he would say is why the heck are you in my bedroom asking stupid questions? But the reality is that his answer (when he was not being woken up by one of them (or by me)) would most likely be that which of them both is dearest to him he has no skill in sense to make distinction. Of course, I’m paraphrasing what Jon would actually say, but that would be the gist of it.

And go Bobcats!

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

Good night.

 

-Octavius Caesar

Antony and Cleopatra             Act II, Scene iii, Line 9

 

How about that? Good night. A few thousand lines into this Random Line exercise and we come up with Good night. Are you trying to tell me that we’ve never come up with that line before? Are you trying to tell me that the line Good night doesn’t appear anywhere else in the collected works? Are you trying to tell me anything? That’s what I thought: nothing. Well, nothing will come of nothing.
Good night!

I would have to say that last night was not a very good night. Rushing around to get the house ready for visitors for an hour or so before bed, Collywobble at bedtime, phone calls about missing drivers at midnight, arriving travelers with crying babies two hours later. Ooof, no, not a very good night at all!

Goodnight!!

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

And call it excellent: thou wast told thus;

 

-Apemantus

Timon of Athens             Act IV, Scene iii, Line 215

 

Man, there’s a lot going on here. Apemantus, who's listed in the cast of characters as a churlish philosopher (rude in a mean-spirited and surly way: that’s the MW definition of churlish) shows up in the very first scene of the play and starts proving his churlishness right away. He hates everyone. Now, here in Act IV, he’s back and come to check out Timon, because Apemantus has learned that Timon has spurned society. Apemantus doesn’t believe that Timon is truly the man-hater that he himself is. I’m afraid I’m going to have to give you Apemantus’s whole speech:

  This is in thee a nature but infected;

  A poor unmanly melancholy sprung

  From change of fortune. Why this spade? This place?

  This slave-like habit; and these looks of care?

  Thy flatterers yet wear silk, drink wine, lie soft;

  Hug their diseased perfumes, and have forgot

  That ever Timon was. Shame not these woods, 

  By putting on the cunning of a carper.

  Be thou a flatterer now, and seek to thrive

  By that which has undone thee: hinge thy knee,

  And let his very breath, whom thou’lt  observe,

  Blow off thy cap; praise his most vicious strain, 

  And call it excellent: thou wast told thus;

  Thou gravest thine ears like tipsters that bid welcome

  To knaves and all approachers: ‘tis most just

  That thou turn rascal; hadst thou wealth again, 

  Rascals should have’t. Do not assume my likeness.

 

So, what’s he saying? Heck if I know. Actually, the first part of the speech is pretty easy to understand. Apemantus just doesn’t believe that deep down Timon is a man-hater. The second part of the speech seems to be just a continuation of that, basically just telling Timon to be the same as he was before, ending with 'don't try to be like me'.

Yah, Timon of Athens is a pretty good play. It’s somewhat simple, if you want it to be. At its heart it’s a play about real friends as opposed to phony ones, and about society in general. It’s another one of those plays that I think would be well placed in a high school curriculum. Lots of food for thought, or food for discussion, that is very relatable to today's world.

Two reasons for this pic:

Tomorrow is this young lady's birthday (don't worry, I'll post another pic of her tomorrow (If I have time to post tomorrow)).

And, as long as I have her, I will never have to worry about having Timon's fate. 

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

Why, now you have done me right.

 

-Sir John Falstaff

King Henry the Fourth Part II    Act V, Scene iii, Line 70

 

But what about the next line. Here’s the full piece from the text

Falstaff

        [To Silence, seeing him take off a bumper]   

        Why, now you have done me right.

Silence

        [Singing]

        Do me right,

        And dub me knight,

        Samingo.

 

Interesting, eh? Lots to discuss.

We’re near the end of this play. In the scene previous, Henry IV has died, and Hal has met with the king’s counselors and assured them that he’s no longer Hal, he is now King Henry V.

Then we switch over to Shallow’s orchard where Shallow, Falstaff, Bardolf, and Silence are getting drunk. Silence is singing throughout the scene.

So a bumper is a large, full glass. Falstaff is addressing Silence and the fact that he just drank a bumper when he says you have done me right. And Silence responds to that with his three lines of song. Samingo might be a bastardization of Sir Mingo, whoever that is.

These guys are about to learn that Hal is now King Henry V, and they’re going to celebrate this fact thinking that their drinking buddy is now king. What they don’t know is that King Henry V is no longer Hal, and that these guys will not have a friend in King Henry V. Oh well.

Do me right, and dub me knight, Samingo.

I like that. Do me right, and dub me knight, Samingo. It’s catchy, even without a tune.
It reminds me a little of JT's 

Do me wrong, but do me right. 

Tell me lies, but hold me tight. 

Save your good-byes for the morning light. 

But don't let me be lonely tonight.

I wonder why JT doesn't mention Samingo?

Here you go.

(8) James Taylor - Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight (Live at the Beacon Theater) - YouTube

 

 

Today’s Totally Random Line(s)

           

Every letter he hath writ hath disvouch’d other.

 

 -Escalus

Measure For Measure     Act IV, Scene iv, Line 1

 

It’s another short scene, this time with Angelo and Escalus (the two guys that Duke left in charge) being a bit confused about Duke’s instructions relating to his return. This is the first line of the scene. Escalus exits soon after, and Angelo has a short soliloquy regretting some of his actions whilst Duke was away, ending with, you guessed it, a rhyming couplet.

    Alack, when once our grace we have forgot,

    Nothing goes right,- we would, and we would not.

And yes, Angelo did a pretty good job of forgetting his grace.

That line makes me think of Claudius’s

    That we would do, we should do when we would.

But that second line seems to have a whole different meaning, even though it’s also got the we would thing going for it.

I know, different play; but I couldn’t help myself.

Here's a pic of the cutest little monkey ever!

I couldn't think of what pic would go with today's post, so I decided to go with the Totally Random theme. I reached into one of my boxes of pics, and this is what I pulled out. And I have to say, that this is a perfect example of the second we would line. I decided what I would do, and I just did it. That I would do, I did when I would. Which is obviously what I should have done. 

Did you get all that?